Sunday, 1 February 2009

Obamarama

On the 18th we left Cincinnati and hit the road for DC with some Dunkin Donuts and Diet Mt Dew to help us along the way. NBH drove the first 4 hours and I drove the second.

The drive was snowy most of the way (OH-WV-PA-WV-MD-VA) but alright until we crossed over into Maryland. The road got really bad and we saw lots of accidents. The next day there was a pile-up involving 7 tractor-trailers and 35 passenger on the same stretch of road in the opposite direction. We made it to Dulles to return the car in one piece and Sabrina was kind enough to come and pick us up and let us stay at her house in Silver Spring.

We cleaned up and met my friend Chrystal and Sara at Rocket Bar in DC. Things were already busy and crazy, but the bar wasn't that bad and we got a table. It seemed really fun with SkeeBall, Pool, Darts, etc.

Sabrina and I

NBH and I

On Monday we headed into the city to go pick up our tickets for the inauguration. We requested tickets from every state we could and got some from my Mom's Rep in California. The lines were wrapped well around Canon so I called the office to see if they'd run the tickets out, they said "no."

I kept seeing people getting their tickets brought out to them though. So I figured, maybe if I call again and get an intern rather than a staffer, they will run them out. Sure enough a rather young chap scurried out with them lickity split.

The invitation, tickets and program were all on heavy paper and embossed. It reminded me of a wedding invitation; if your wedding invitation came with 'autographed' photos.

On the 20th Sabrina's husband Andy dropped us off at the Wheaton metro station at 7:30am, we got seats on a red train and then transferred to the green line, where again we got seats. The further into the district we got the more crowded it got. The conducter came on and said that L'Enfant plaza (where we planned to get off) was closed. So we decided we'd get off at the stop before, Metro Center, and walk. As we pulled up to Metro Center, the conductor said that L'Enfant was open again so we stayed on the train. Of course as we pulled into L'Enfant we were told it was closed. So we had to take the train to Pentagon and catch a train (after two full trains passed) back to Metro Center. So our metro journey went: MD-DC-VA-DC.

Bundled up and waiting for a train at Fort Totten

So we finally got out off at Metro Center and I have never seen a station so crowded ever. Luckily they decided to leave the turnstiles open so it took 15-20 minutes to get out and then we started to walk. Lots of streets were closed and you couldn't cross Pennsylvania Avenue so we ended up going through all 4 quadrants of DC that day: NW, NE, SW, SE.

Ridiculously crowded Metro Center (a woman fell onto the tracks!)

We made our way to the line for silver tickets and waiting in line for over an hour when people started coming back saying "they aren't letting anyone else in." So we decided it was best to try and head back. We walk down past the Holocaust museum and down around the Tidal basin. We ended up behind the Washington Monument just before Biden was sworn in. We could see Obama on the big screen, but we couldn't hear anything. At this point we decided to beat the crowds and get back on the metro out to Maryland. Streets were still closed so we walked by where we used to live in Foggy Bottom and up to Farragut North.

Waiting in line

The Capitol

Washington Monument from the Tidal Basin

Tidal Basin

So many people around the monument

Tons of people on the mall

All in all we walked about 6 miles. The train back was empty and Sabrina picked us up and we got subs and thanks to her Tivo watched the swearing in and parade on TV.

NBH jumping for joy outside of Farragut North

That night we had my favorite DC takeaway, Manny & Olga's. Sabrina and I used to order from them all the time in college and I was very happy to have my Steak & Cheese sub with fries. Sabrina also got some super cute Obama cookies for us!

All in all, we were part of history. If we'd known about the drama getting into the ticketed areas, we would have gone to the unticketed areas immediately. We were still there, we still got the atmosphere and the experience and I'm very glad we went.
If you've lasted this long, sorry for the longest post ever!

Oooh, I know that drive from Cincy to D.C. oh so well. Looks like you had fun. I stayed at home for the to-do but my DH went. He had silver tickets and managed to get in after busting through the gate (with thousands of other people).

I wanted to at least identify myself so you'd know this random girl who is following your blog.